


Animals and humans

by Rogercat



Series: Modern AU; Himring National Park [15]
Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Adopted Children, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Animals, Dior as Celegorm's adopted son, Family Bonding, Father-Son Relationship, Feanorian Week 2020, Gen, Hunters & Hunting, Mentors, National Park, Nature, Other, Teenagers, Wilderness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-03-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:06:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23312092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rogercat/pseuds/Rogercat
Summary: With Dior having chosen to become a wildlife rehabilitator, there are times when Celegorm brings him to Himring national park for a different reason
Relationships: Celegorm & Dior, Celegorm | Turcafinwë & Huan, Celegorm | Turcafinwë & Oromë
Series: Modern AU; Himring National Park [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1428016
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7
Collections: Feanorian Week 2020





	Animals and humans

Time truly could pass quickly. Yesterday had been a year since his first arrival to Formenos as a teenage orphan newly into foster care, thinking that it might only be for the summer months before he had to leave for a different place unless he managed to get enrolled into the local high school so he had a legal reason to stay longer. Yet instead he had found a biological relative, his paternal grandmother Emeldir Ladros, and eventually a adopted father in Celegorm because the hunter had actually wanted some form of family but were not interested in romantic relationships and in general found older children easier to deal with than infants and toddlers. 

“Wow, it is already half a year since the adoption was approved,” Dior commented when he had arrived home from high school and checked the calendar for which day he would have a health check at the hospital next time. Celegorm, who had been busy with brushing Huan and checking for ticks that could have bitten into the skin on the Irish Wolfhound, used the possibility of a short break. 

“Yeah, I brought something special for a little celebration of that.” 

He had gotten hold of a adult boar male the week before, so tonight they used some of the meat to make wild-meat hamburgers as dinner, Huan getting some of the meat as well, boiled in a small pot instead of fried in the pan like hamburgers, in his own feeding bowl. 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

This late spring morning, however, did not mean that would be a lie in simply because it was a Saturday in the middle of May. It started with that Celegorm was awakened by his cellphone. Checking the message, the silver-blond hunter let out a storm of cuss words that would have shocked the teenager only a year ago, as Dior had been brought up in a strict household where swearing was not allowed at all. 

“Dior, hurry to get up and get dressed at once! We have gotten a call from the park rangers with the request of bringing people from the Wildlife Aid center! They request as many people to come as possible!” 

Huan “helped” Dior to wake up by jumping up in the bed and licking his face, the seventeen-year-old protesting that he had already woken up at the loud swearing from the other bedroom in the cottage. Just focus on dressing in some clothes that were not freshly washed, if they were in a hurry like this, but it was hardly the first time a such an emergency call happened. Since Dior had chosen a career that involved wildlife, he was not surprised when Celegorm dragged him along to the national park. This was hardly the first time it happened and as his adoptive father had explained, helping wild animals in the national park could very well mean that you had to be in their natural surroundings. 

“What have happened?” Dior asked as he quickly arranged his hair in a simple ponytail, Celegorm fixing a quick breakfast for them both by boiling water in the tea kettle and then mix the water with powder from a dry blueberry soup. It was not the breakfast he had planned, but since they needed to be at the meeting place as soon as possible, the hunter had to improvise. 

“Suspected trespassers that have managed to find a weak spot in the the electric fence around the national park, one of the night guards saw smoke from a campfire that is nowhere near any of the allowed places for building a fire. Might be poachers or people from the black market that could be after the eggs of the golden eagles.”

Having a hunter as adoptive father gave Dior free information about the local wildlife, and he knew that fire in the wrong place somewhere in the national park could mean disaster if it went out of control to become a forest fire because it had not rained for a week now and it was rather dry in the ground as a result. As Celegorm opened the car door so Huan could jump into his usual place, Dior grabbed his usual water bottle and the small backpack filled with a few things he guessed could be needed if there was a wild animal that had been caught in a snare or something but hopefully still able of returning to freedom without any injury. 

“Dad! Dad! Your hunting bow and quiver!!” Dior called at realizing when they almost forgot something important in the cottage before leaving. Celegorm had a habit of using both a modern hunting rifle and the more traditional weapons used in hunting since you never knew if there was a dangerous situation with a wild animal suddenly happening and your bullets had run out. 

Finally, they drove away after checking so the cottage was closed and locked everywhere. 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

They met up with Oromë in the company of other local hunters from Formenos, a few of the employees at the Wildlife Aid and even some trackers from the native tribes who had joined up with the forest rangers. 

“Everyone who is not a hunter or tracker, stay in pairs if you break apart from a larger group. If it is poachers armed with guns, it could quickly become dangerous and we would rather not have to deal with a hostage situation that can quickly go wrong,” Oromë spoke, taking the role as leader for the whole planning. At hearing those words Dior shuddered for a moment, recalling the attempted kidnapping he had been a victim of last summer. He would rather not be caught up in something similar again, thank you very much. 

  
  


Leaving Dior in the care of the vet Beleg and the vet nurse Nellas from the Wildlife Aid in a area where it should be safer to look for any wild animals that could have been trapped in a snare or a similar trap, Celegorm joined up with Oromë to ride deeper into the national park. Since it was just the two of them for a while, it felt like in the past, when Oromë had been his mentor to teach Celegorm how to be a responsible hunter who knew his stuff. 

“Fearing that Mara's eggs might be a target?” Celegorm asked, thinking of the female golden eagle that his mentor had saved from a death of starvation as a fleading after that her parents had been the victims of poachers some years ago and personally ensured that Mara would be able to survive in the wild despite that he had needed to take her from the nest. 

“Yes, they should have hatched two weeks ago since I saw the nest last when the first chick had started to break out of the egg shell. I want to check on them, both the chicks, Mara herself and her mate if I can spot them.” 

Golden eagles were sacred animals here in the faith of the natives, viewed as the personal birds of the God of Hunting. To harm or kill a golden eagle, was like asking for anything bad happening to you in the wildness. Such tales of not disrespecting mother nature would be told to everyone who wanted to be a hunter here in northern Valinor, to not dismiss the beliefs of spirits and a spirit world as something belonging to the past. After all, shamans like Irmo and Namo did not hold high social status in the tribes for nothing. Celegorm knew from rumours that Oromë was a descendant of a local shaman several generations ago, which was said to explain why he had such skills with animals, that they seemed to trust him because he reached out to them in a spiritual manner despite that he had no such training. 

  
  


Soon, they arrived at the whole mountain side where the eyrie could be seen just barely on a smaller cliff that was sheltered from rain by one slightly above. As Celegorm helped him climb down by the help of a rope, this did not go unnoticed. 

“ _ Creep! Creep! _ ” the three eagle chicks made a lot of noise at seeing Oromë coming close. It pleased him to see that no one else was around, as humans could be a very fatal danger for such small ones otherwise. 

“Yeah, yeah, babies. Mara is blessed with a good mate, and you three as proof of them being a successful set of parents so far.”

Taking on his thick leather gloves to avoid injury from the beaks and claws, Oromë quickly checked on each one of the eagle chicks so he could know whatever they were a good weight for their age. He knew that not all three might survive to adulthood, but it would still be a good report that Mara and her mate had three offspring this year, given that both of the previous year's chickens had survived so far. 

“Oh, Mara is coming.”

He knew the sound of her voice, and in his little binoculars he also saw an incoming eagle with her little white patch of feathers on her chest. To let the female golden eagle know that it was him and not someone who meant to kill her chicks, Oromë pulled out a long leather string with a little silver bell at the end from one of the front pockets of his west, spinning it around while also holding out a gloved arm for her to land on. 

“Hello there, sweetie. You have grown big and strong.” 

Despite that Mara knew his face and voice, she was still a wild animal, not a pet used to a human owner. Still, Oromë bribed her into being a little more calm with a fresh hare, that he had killed on his own backyard this very morning with the help of a trap, which Celegorm tossed down over the cliff edge from the older hunter's saddle bag. 

“Look here, girl. Lots of food for your babies so they grow strong and healthy just like yourself.”

Letting Mara enjoying the free meal of raw meat with her chicks, Oromë climbed back up so he and Celegorm could ride further. 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

Meanwhile, Dior, Beleg and Nellas had found the camp of the poachers. Naturally they were greeted by all the signs of disrespect for nature, with empty tin cans, and plastic packaging laying everywhere. One victim was already there, a fox kit most likely lured by the scents of food and sadly gotten stuck with its little head in one of the tin cans. 

“ **_Damned nitwits! Not thinking once about how other animals can be hurt by their negligence! Just look at how awful it looks like with all this rubbish spilled everywhere!_ ** ” Nellas cursed loudly, taking some photos so the police would have evidence during a trial, before they started to see if any other small animals were in danger. Over the past year, Dior had learned how to carefully free small animals from this type of distress, and therefore knew how to slowly get the fox kit loose. Checking for injuries, he was rewarded with a noticeable bite into the leather clove. 

“Hey, are this little one perhaps a sibling or even a offspring of Feisty Girl from last summer, perhaps?” Beleg laughed, recalling the female fox kit who had really not liked to be handled by the humans at the wildlife aid center. Thankfully the fox kit was not injured, so Dior could let it run back into the bushes where its siblings likely was after that Beleg had gotten a quick check on it. Then a gunshot echoed from somewhere, quickly followed by two other. 

“That better not be the poachers...right?” 

The now familiar barking of Huan was heard as well. Not many moments after, other hunting dogs joined in. 

  
  


In fact, the poachers had done the huge mistake of annoying a huge moose bull, which now chased them though the woods, Huan catching the scent and taking the lead to show where to follow. As the hunters and park rangers had horses to ride on, they could arrive in far higher speed than the poachers, who was chased into an area with very high reeds. Judging from the shocked cries, Huan and the other dogs had driven them out into the small lake, which resulted in a very wet landing. Of course, a pair of swans with their cygnets happened to be exactly on that spot, and the male swan immediately began to prove that swans may look elegant, but that they also were very protective parents. In fact, the poachers got a free “lesson” in that male swans had some very powerful beaks and wings to beat up anything that could be a threat to their offspring. 

“A very unplanned catch for them in the form of a nasty cold from the water temperature because it is not summer yet, and a trial for attempts at poaching that is very likely to result in a few years in prison alongside a huge fine for unauthorized presence in the national park and prohibited weapons that is going to dig a deep hole in their personal economics,” Oromë laughed as some of the forest rangers dismounted from the horses, to pull the two men out of the water without much gentleness and put handcuffs on them. 

~X~X~X~X~X~X

Finally, in the late afternoon, they could return home after a long day. Dior felt that he had not really eaten as he should have done today, but since poachers was a problem best dealt with as quickly as possible, given that many of the animals in Himring national park was red listed and every death not caused by natural causes was a huge red flag. 

“We need to get some proper food for you as soon as possible, we should have tried to make a bigger lunch box with sandwiches for you before we left home,” Celegorm said in worry at seeing how Dior tried to ignore his rumbling stomach. It might be a year since his adopted son had gotten free from the vegan-based, far too small food portions he once had been served for most of his life, but its shadows could show up at times like this when Dior did not manage to eat as much as recommended by the doctors to avoid any health issues as a adult. 

“Vana left a message about that there is a huge meat stew standing in the kitchen refrigerator at home, that only needs to be reheated for myself and anyone of my hunting buddies that is hungry after this day,” Oromë offered when Dior once again opened his private termos with chocolate milk in a attempt to gain some form of energy, only to find in obvious disappointment on his face that he already had emptied it over the turn of the day. 

“Yes, please!” Dior responded before realizing that he had spoken before thinking because of his hunger. But the old bear hunter only laughed. 

“Come on, Celegorm, get your lad and dog into the car so we can drive over to my place and enjoy a proper meal that should saturate all three of us.” 

Perhaps it was not a normal day for the two adult men and the teenager, but this was a very good example of how life here in Formenos could be tied to the national park and the wildlife living there. A life with nature could hold a lot of different meanings. 

**Author's Note:**

> Dior was adopted by Celegorm at the end of To move North, the first story in the Himring National Park series


End file.
